Archive for category Police

HONG KONG — When protesters disrupted an art exhibition by Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, a political cartoonist, at the George Town Literary Festival in Malaysia on Saturday, he assumed that the police would want his help identifying those responsible.

Instead, said Mr. Zulkiflee, who goes by the name Zunar, he was questioned by the police, detained for a day and informed that he was under investigation for producing cartoons that purportedly defamed Prime Minister Najib Razak.

It was not the first time Mr. Zulkiflee, who already faces nine charges of sedition and is barred from leaving the country, has courted trouble with his pen. His cartoons frequently target Mr. Najib, who is accused of taking millions of dollars from a state investment fund. Mr. Najib has faced widespread calls to resign, most recently at an anticorruption demonstration this month that drew tens of thousands in Kuala Lumpur, the capital.

In an interview, Mr. Zulkiflee, 54, discussed how social media has become an increasingly important channel for political dissent in Malaysia, and why he continues to use his art to investigate corruption and injustice without dwelling too much on the risks. Read the rest of this entry »

I told Bersih Chairperson Maria Chin after the moving “singing in the rain” at the corner of Jalan Raja, nearby Dataran Merdeka, last night by Bersih supporters that she had to thank the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for making her an “instant heroine”.

Maria Chin expects to be arrested again by the authorities but she had pledged that this will not shake her spirits and her commitment to fight for fair elections and democracy in Malaysia, as well as the abolition of Special Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).

The Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar made a splash of a news earlier this evening, announcing that Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah is safe and in good health and that she had been provided with a mattress and pillow due to her feeling uncomfortable sleeping on the wooden floor in her cell.

It is sad that Khalid did not realise that the announcement did not reflect on his sensitivity but the opposite, that it has to take a week for the head of the Police to realise that it is cruel, heartless and insensitive for the IGP not to take all necessary steps to ensure that a defenceless 60-year-old woman should be treated with all the decency and humanity she deserved while under police incarceration, on top of the baseless charge of detaining her whether as a terrorist or a traitor when she should be treated as a patriot par excellence of Malaysia.

Khalid cannot stop Malaysians from asking, even though not in his presence, as to why Maria Chin is held under Sosma for Bersih receiving puny funds from Open Society Foundation (OSF) while the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak can go scot-free for receiving astronomical RM4.2 billion from foreigners?

Maria Chin and Bersih had always advocated peaceful, non-violent and democratic process to bring about public awareness and public pressures for change, yet she could be treated like a terrorist to be placed under Sosma allowing for up to 28 days of detention without trial.

Anthony is held under the Sedition Act for his speech at the Pakatan Harapan Convention the previous Saturday calling for the toppling of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Let me make it very clear that the DAP and Pakatan Harapan is committed to the toppling of the Prime Minister, Datuk Najib Razak and the UMNO/Barisan Nasiuonal government for making Malaysia a “global kleptocracy”, but by constitutional means through the democratic process by the ballot box and not in any violent, unconstitutional or revolutionary manner. Read the rest of this entry »

There are those who say that that the greatest loser in the Bersih 5 rally yesterday were the Red Shirts, whose leader pledged a turn-out of over 300,000 people but could muster a turnout of only one per cent of some 3,000 to 4,000 people.

An inquiry should be conducted whether tens of millions of ringgit had been committed for a turn-out of 300,000 Red Shirts in Kuala Lumpur at Bersih 5 rally yesterday, and what happened to the mega sum of monies after such a dismal turnout of Red Shirts people, who clearly were quite ashamed of their actions which caused them to hide their faces.

But the real loser in yesterday’s successful Bersih 5 rally are not the Red Shirts, but the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself, without whom there would not be the Red Shirt phenomenon in the first place.

It is most remarkable that after a successful Bersih 5 rally, by whatever reckoning, the Prime Minister, far away in Lima, Peru, could say that Malaysians have become fed up with the Bersih electoral reform group or feel that its rallies do not bring any benefit to the country.

This is a classic case of a person able to see the speck in another’s eye but unable to notice the beam in his own eye. Read the rest of this entry »

The co-founders of an independent news website that has reported extensively on a corruption scandal involving Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, have been charged with offences including “intent to annoy”.

Facing up to one year in jail, the editors appeared before a recently set up “special cyber court” in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. Human Rights Watch said the use of the court was part of a strategy aimed at “shutting down the vibrant and diverse online news environment.”

The charges relate to a video posted on the Malaysiakini website of sacked ruling party member Khairuddin Abu Hassan criticising the attorney general at a press conference for being close with cabinet ministers, which he argued would undermine his independence to investigate government corruption.

The Najib scandal emerged in July 2015 when media reports said investigators had found that hundreds of millions of dollars from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund was transferred into the prime minister’s bank accounts.

But attorney general Mohamed Apandi Ali closed all domestic investigations in January, clearing Najib and saying $681m transferred into his personal bank account was a gift from the royal family in Saudi Arabia.

Malaysiakini’s editor-in-chief, Steven Gan, and co-founder, Premesh Chandran, have faced repeated harassment from Najib’s supporters, including when hundreds of protesters tried to forcibly shut down their offices earlier in November. Read the rest of this entry »

The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, should stop acting as if he is mere apologist for UMNO’s Red Shirts which will undermine police honour and morale as the overwhelming majority of policemen and policewomen are professional and non-partisan who want to be the guardians of the Constitution, law and order of the country and do not want to play any political games.

The judgment by the High Court judge Justice Nathan Balan yesterday that the police are legally-bound to ensure the Red Shirts movement holds its counter-rally at a different location to prevent clashes with Bersih 2.0 supporters tomorrow should remind Khalid of his sworn and supreme duties to serve the country and not any single individual and to uphold the Constitution, law and order in the country.

In his ruling rejecting an application for an injunction to prevent Bersih 5 and a counter-rally from taking place in the capital city, Justice Nanthan said Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Act stated that the police must redirect any counter-rallies if they knew that clashes were imminent.

He said: “Section 18 of the PAA acts as a safety valve to diffuse any potential conflict therefore it is the duty of the police to prevent a clash or conflict should there is a possibility that it would eventuate.”

It is most shocking that in the past few weeks, the highest authorities in the land, including the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Home Minister, and the Inspector-General of Police seem to be totally ignorant of the existence of Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) 2012 which was enacted to deal with the situation created by Red Shirts want to have a counter-rally in response to Bersih 5 rally.

Let all Malaysians be aware of Section 18 of the PAA on “Counter Assembly” which reads:

“18. If the Officer in Charge of a Police District receives a notification of a counter assembly and it is evident that the organization of the counter assembly will cause conflict between the participants of the assemblies, the Officer in Charge of the Police District shall give an alternative for the counter assembly to be organized at another time, date or place.” Read the rest of this entry »

During the final winding-up of the 2017 Budget debate yesterday, I asked the Second Finance Minister, Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani whether and how the three former Cabinet Ministers, MP for Pagoh and former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, MP for Semporna and former Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and the MP for Tambun and former Second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Abdul Husni Hanadzlah had violated Cabinet secrecy when they took part in the debate in Parliament on the budget.

Johari was unable to give a cogent and intelligible answer.

I in fact asked Johari why he dared not repeat inside Parliament what he had earlier said outside the Parliament chamber, that it was not wrong for MPs and former Cabinet Ministers like Husni to ask questions about 1MDB in Parliament.

There was no answer from Johari.

Although the Second Finance Minister, the Minister tasked with the final reply on the 2017 Budget speech, does not know that the three former Cabinet Ministers had violated Cabinet secrecy, the Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia seemed to know more about Cabinet secrets about the 1MDB than Johari with his media conference statement on Thursday, 27th October that the three former Cabinet Ministers might have broken their oaths of secrecy when debating the 2017 Budget.

This has shocked many lawyers and law professors, as well as the former longest-serving Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, who was AG for 13 years from 1980-1993, who expressed surprise and questioned how the Dewan Rakyat Speaker knew that three former ministers had revealed government secrets when they raised the 1MDB issue during budget debate.

Abu Talib wondered how Pandikar, as head of the legislature, knew that the Cabinet had discussed the 1MDB issue. Also, how did he know what was discussed was classified information.

Abu Talib asked whether somebody had told the Speaker about it, and if so, Speaker should have lodged a police report against that very person who told him.

However, this most important question is whether Pandikar had committed a crime under section 124(B) of Penal Code of an activity “detrimental to parliamentary democracy” when he egged on police investigations of three former Cabinet Ministers for their speeches on 1MDB in Parliament – especially as the police seemed to be using Section 124(B) against all and sundry, including university students and peaceful critics of the government-of-the-day! Read the rest of this entry »

In all its years functioning as a responsible media organisation, Malaysiakini has been doing the right thing. As a former journalist, I have watched its progress through the years and can vouch for its steadfastness in adhering to the ethics and principles of journalism.

But it is now being investigated for carrying out activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

This is totally absurd.

That it should be singled out to be persecuted by the Malaysian authorities is a testament of how deep into the mud of absurdity our country’s leaders are pushing Malaysia into.

NOVEMBER 5 ― Of late, there have been statements by ministers and authorities which seem to have blamed Bersih for the threatening menace of the Red Shirts come November 19.

Khairy Jamaluddin, in his infinite wisdom, said: “…if Bersih does not do anything, the reds would certainly not do anything, so the burden lies on Bersih. The best way is to not allow the Bersih 5 rally to happen”. The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi similarly opined: “You see, if there is no yellow, there will be no red. If there is no Maria Chin, there will surely be no Jamal Yunos”.

With respect, such line of thinking is simply erroneous. Imagine this scenario ― a group of students are enjoying a game of football during P.E. lesson. The school bully appears from nowhere, pushes several students to the ground and snatches the ball away like the jerk he is. A brouhaha ensues. The teacher comes along and not only does omit to discipline the bully, but proceeds to scold the students for causing him problems and orders the students back to class.

How’s that for logic?

One can’t put it more simply than O’Brien J in R v. Londonderry Justices (1891) 28 LR Fr. 440: “If danger arises from the exercise of lawful rights resulting in a breach of the peace, the remedy is the presence of sufficient force to prevent the result, not the legal condemnation of those who exercise those rights”

Former Cabinet Minister Tan Sri Sanusi Junid has confirmed that he will attend with former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad the meeting in Parliament on Tuesday of Members of Parliament (including former MPs and Ministers) to discuss the country’s latest constitutional crisis on the doctrine of separation of powers and how to defend Parliament and MPs’ parliamentary privileges and immunities against insidious police encroachments.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said yesterday that “3 ex-ministers under probe over 1MDB statements”(New Straits Times 5/11/06 headline p. 10) and this is most shocking for two reasons:

Firstly, when did the police have free roving liberty to investigate speeches by MPs (whether former Minister or not) made in Parliament, as if MPs’s traditional and constitutionally-entrenched parliamentary privileges spelt out in Article 63 (2) of the Malaysian Constitution and the Houses of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952 do not exist in the eyes of the IGP.

Should MPs submit their speeches to the police for approval before they are delivered in Parliament. Is this what Malaysia has become, in the eighth year of premiership of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak?

Secondly, is the IGP through his arbitrary and unconstitutional action sending out a message that 1MDB issue is a “banned” subject in Parliament, as MPs who raised the issue of 1MDB in Parliament could be next in line of police’s interrogation when the three ex-Cabinet Ministers could be targeted by the police for speaking in Parliament on 1MDB?

Khalid’s statement yesterday has laid bare the frightening and even Kafkaesque nature of the constitutional crisis on the doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary which has been suddenly sprung on the nation when he said that the police had enough reasons to investigate former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, former Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal and former Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah as there was no immunity from seditious statements in Parliament. Read the rest of this entry »

Overnight, Malaysia is faced with a major constitutional crisis with the gravest threat in the nation’s history on the proper place and power of Parliament in our system of governance and the traditional as well as constitutionally-entrenched parliamentary privileges and immunities of Members of Parliament, regardless whether from the government or the opposition.

Central to this constitutional crisis facing Malaysia is whether the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, is capable of leading MPs to fend off the Executive and Police threats to parliamentary privileges and immunities by arbitrary, unconstitutional and illegal assumption of non-existing powers against Parliament?

The latest incident in the insidious subversion of Parliament’s proper role and place in the Malaysian system of governance, based on the doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, is the shocking announcement by the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar that the police are now investigating former Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah for sedition over his speech in Parliament about 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), aside for alleged violations of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972.

The Inspector-General of Police made the nonsensical statement that Husni’s case is also classified under the Sedition Act because the investigation into the state investment firm was still underway and that talking about it might jeopardise the process.

He said: “Even in Parliament, it doesn’t give an MP the immunity against the Sedition Act to speak about such matter(s).” Read the rest of this entry »

Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, who had been the eighth Speaker of Dewan Rakyat, should have known of the famous parliamentary episode in the United Kingdom some four hundreds years ago on 4th January 1642 when King Charles I entered the House of Commons to arrest five Members of Parliament for high treason.

When the King asked the Speaker at the time, William Lenthall, if he knew of the location of these members, the Speaker famously replied:” “May it please your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here; and humbly beg your Majesty’s pardon that I cannot give any other answer than this to what your Majesty is pleased to demand of me.”

I am not suggesting that Pandikar should emulate William Lenthall and be prepared to sacrifice his political career let alone his life to protect Parliamentary honours, privileges and immunity, but I stand corrected if he is not the only Speaker in the world to openly suggest – or to use the words of Tun Mahathir’s lawyer, Haniff Khaliri, “incite” – police reports or police action against Members of Parliament when he called a media conference last Thursday to suggest that the three former Cabinet Ministers, former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the former Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and the Second Finance Minister, Datuk Husni Hanadzlan might have broken their oaths of secrecy as Cabinet Ministers when debating the Budget 2017 in Parliament – which was as good as a public reprimand of the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General for dereliction of duty and instigation for them to act against Muhyhiddin, Shafie and Husni.

I have re-read the speeches of Muhyiddin, Shafie and Husni in the Parliament Hansard, which confirm that neither one of them had said anything during their speeches in the 2017 Budget debate to reveal any Cabinet secret which Malaysians and the world have not known before about the 1MDB financial scandal. Read the rest of this entry »

The Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia should retract his media conference statement last Thursday that the three former Cabinet Ministers, former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Mujhyiddin Yassin, former Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and the former Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Husni Hanadzlah might have broken their oaths of secrecy as Cabinet Ministers when debating the Budget 2017 in Parliament, as it was such ill-advised and unfortunate statement by the Speaker which triggered off a chain of deplorable events – like the baseless police reports lodged by busybody-NGOs, the Malaysian Malay Network Organisation (JMN) and Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory N87 Club, and police action to investigate the three former Cabinet Ministers.

If the Speaker had not made the ill-advised and improper statement at last Thursday’s media conference, it would not have triggered off this chain of unfortunate and deplorable incidents.

Pandikar should accompany the retraction with a bold and clear-cut statement reaffirming the traditional parliamentary principle that MPs enjoy parliamentary privileges and immunity and the police should not challenge the parliamentary privileges of Members of Parliament except in clear-cut cases provided by the Constitution. Read the rest of this entry »

The excessive and unreasonable action by the police in Kota Marudu to arrest the Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah for distributing Bersih flyers in Langkon, Sabah to promote the Bersih 5 rally slated on Nov. 19 to call for free, fair and clean elections must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

Even worse is the police intimidation of members of the public for taking the Bersih flyers, as the police taking down the identity card numbers of those who take the Bersih flyers and police threats to arrest the members of the public concerned is nothing short of illegal police harassment and abuse of powers.

It is no crime under the law for anyone to take or receive the Bersih flyers, and the police are doing themselves and public respect for their independence and credibility no service by acting completely outside the province of the law in harassing or intimidating members of the public for taking or receiving the Bersih flyers.

All responsible political parties and members of the public want to be friends of the police, for the police are performing an important national service and function to uphold the law to maintain order, peace and harmony.

But the police will forfeit public respect for the police, who will cease to be friends of the people, if the police themselves break the law by indiscriminately and illegally abusing police powers as in case of the Bersih 5 publicity event in Langkon, Kota Marudu yesterday.

I call on the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to reprimand and penalise police personnel who abused their powers in arresting Maria Chin and worse, harassing and intimidating Malaysians for taking Bersih flyers as it constitutes no crime under the law.

I hope the IGP will be as “quick on the draw” with the police abuses of powers in the arrest of Maria Chin and the police threats to members of the public for taking Bersih flyers, as he has shown with regard to complaints by members of the establishment against critics of the government. Read the rest of this entry »

What would have happened if the Bersih 5 supporters had been as unruly, provocative and violentn as the Red Shirts in Teluk Intan on Saturday?

Undoubtedly, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar would have tweeted for the whole world to know about the Bersih 5 supporters’ provocative and violent conduct, how they had deliberately defied the law and order in the country as well as tweeted his “instant” directive to the relevant police officers to bring the offending persons to book or to hunt them down if they do not surrender themselves to the authorities within 24 hours!

More than 72 hours have passed since the hooliganism and thuggery exhibited by the Red Shirts in Teluk Intan, but there is not a squeak either from the Inspector-General of Police or the top police authorities!

What is even more ignominious and infamous is that the Barisan Nasional political leaders are using the Red Shirts hooliganism and thuggery in Teluk Intan as an excuse to issue seemingly even-handed calls to organisers of the Berish 5 and Red Shirt rallies to call off their demonstrations, publicly exhibiting the continuing loss of the UMNO/BN leaders of their moral compass to be unable to distinguish right from wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

The recent revelation by the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar that the police have completed the first phase of their investigation into 1MDB, and that the police probe is restricted to the five “non-existing” recommendations by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as ordered by the cabinet, have reduced police investigation into 1MDB into a charade and a farce.

It raises many questions relating to the independence, impartiality, efficiency and professionalism of the Malaysian police, in particular whether the Malaysian police could rank as one of the world’s top police forces in terms of efficiency and professionalism.

For instance, can IGP Khalid order the police probe on 1MDB to investigate the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s damning allegations of criminal conduct of the theft, embezzlement and money-laundering of multi-billion ringgit 1MDB funds or must he first get the “green light” from the Cabinet or the Prime Minister himself?

In the absence of such “greenlight” from the Cabinet or the Prime Minister himself, is the Malaysian police forced to resort to world-class play-acting pretending that the 136-page DOJ complaint of a litany of criminal conduct of theft, embezzlement and money-laundering of multi-billion ringgit of 1MDB funds simply does not exist – although some ten countries are independently investigating the global scandal of theft, embezzlement and money-laundering of multi-billion ringgit 1MDB funds?

Can Khalid enlighten Malaysians whether he had officially asked for such “green light” from the Cabinet or the Prime Minister for the Malaysian police probe into 1MDB to investigate the allegations of criminal conduct in the DOJ filings, or whether he had never asked for such approval knowing that it would not be forthcoming, whether from the Cabinet or the Prime Minister himself? Read the rest of this entry »

The police arrest and three-day remand of three student activists, Muhammad Luqman Nul Hakim Zul Razali, Luqman Hakim and Ashraff Nazrin, for promoting next week’s #TangkapMalaysian Official1 rally at Seri Iskandar in Perak yesterday is unwarranted, grave abuse of power and serious police failure to understand their real powers and duties.

The police should release the three student activists immediately, as there is no reason or justification to continue to remand them.

In fact, what all policemen and women should seriously consider is whether they should obstruct or assist the #TangkapMalaysian Official1 campaign.

Should the Inspector-General of Police and the police be concerned as to who is “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” mentioned 36 times in the 136-page US Department of Justice (DOJ) US$1 billion assets forfeiture lawsuits arising from the embezzlement and money-laundering of US$3.5 billion 1MDB funds?

The question must be an unequivocal “Yes” if Malaysia believes in the rule of law and upholds good governance principles of integrity and accountability. Read the rest of this entry »

• and the announcement by the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar that the police will not investigate Khairul’s statement alleging a high-level conspiracy by the three Tan Sris to topple the Prime Minister as Khairul’s report was based on assumptions without any proof to substantiate his allegations and therefore did not warrant further investigations.

All well and good, which bespeak of a highly competent and efficient police force, except for two tails left behind by the shot-gun disposal of one of the most serious police reports lodged in the nation’s history – a high-level conspiracy to topple the sitting Prime Minister. Read the rest of this entry »

Dallas Police Chief David Brown is not an especially polished speaker. He doesn’t love the cameras; he doesn’t always have carefully prepared remarks ready to deliver with a politician’s effortless grace. When he can, he leaves it to somebody else.

That makes his remarkable performance on what was surely the most anguished day in the Dallas Police Department’s history so moving, and so persuasive. In the hours after five officers – four Dallas policemen and one Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer – were murdered by a deranged sniper, Brown’s delivery was pitch-perfect, unrehearsed and straight from the heart.

“We are heartbroken. There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred in our city,” Brown told reporters early Friday, less than eight hours after his officers were mowed down while escorting a peaceful protest through downtown Dallas.

“All I know is that this must stop, this divisiveness between our police and our citizens.”

With those words, he spoke for every police department in America – many of which have far worse relationships with their minority communities than ours.

“We don’t feel much support most day,” he said. “Let’s don’t make today most days. We need your support.”

The nobility in that direct appeal was profound. If he had responded with tough talk about hunting ’em down, vowed vengeance, assigned blame, it would have been understandable, given the depth of the tragedy.

If he felt such rage, Brown kept it to himself. He was matter-of-fact about the measures taken to negotiate with and ultimately kill the gunman. Read the rest of this entry »